Gar in GBay

[singingdog]

Last June, I was paddling in the Beausoliel area, and saw quite a large gar just hanging out in relatively open water. Surprise to me. Has anyone fished for them in the bay? It's on my list of species not yet caught. 

[mikeh]

a few years ago I saw a whole bunch of smaller ones in the south end of Hogs Bay near Victoria Harbour right down in the lily pads, also seen schools of them near Port Mcnicol. I did try and catch them but had no luck, usually when I see them they have baitfish in their beak.

[David Chong]

51 minutes ago, singingdog said:

Last June, I was paddling in the Beausoliel area, and saw quite a large gar just hanging out in relatively open water. Surprise to me. Has anyone fished for them in the bay? It's on my list of species not yet caught. 

On some slow days, I have targeted them! They are very tough to hook on regular lures but are catchable! Many people who target them specifically use a rope lure so that the gar's teeth get caught in the rope. Otherwise, jerkbaits and crankbaits work well. 

[OhioFisherman]

Sing, we used to make a mid summer family trip to Pointe Au Baril and I would take the wife out fishing. Her casting skills were pretty grim so it was a day of live bait fishing with big minnows to see if she could hook into something big.

As I understand it, gar will swim into a school of minnows and thrash their bills around to stun the minnows and then eat the stunned ones. If you look at one their mouths and throat might support that, nothing like a bass, walleye, or pike, I can see as they would need more time to eat and swallow a bigger bait fish. 

One day I caught 1 that was 46 inches long, hooked on a 6-8 inch chub, my wife got 1 41 inches with just the line tangled around it's mouth-nose and no hook in it. Just guessing mine was around 17 pounds, I thought a pike the same size gave a better fight. Two consecutive years my wife also caught some pretty big catfish fishing the same way, one was around 15# and one around 25 #, even they gave her a better fight.

Never hooked one on a lure.

[AKRISONER]

1 hour ago, David Chong said:

On some slow days, I have targeted them! They are very tough to hook on regular lures but are catchable! Many people who target them specifically use a rope lure so that the gar's teeth get caught in the rope. Otherwise, jerkbaits and crankbaits work well. 

crazy enough, it turns out the rope lure technique is against the fishing regulations. I believe there was a thread around here somewhere where the matter was discussed and confirmed by a CO that you cant use rope to hook a fish!

funny enough, the gar we have caught have been out while fishing largemouth. They ended up eating whacky rigs and somehow we managed to get them in. I have never been able to get the big ones to bite at anything, Ive seen multiple 50 inchers sunning themselves and usually when i throw a crankbait at them they simply lazily swim away from it. Its fairly common to have them  come right up and check out your lure though. If you are running a crankbait through a school of them, usually you can get a hit from the smaller more aggressive fish, but getting the hooks into them is very very tough.

[Headhunter]

When I was a kid, we used to catch them at Springbank Dam in London. Having tried numerous techniques to not only get them to bite, but to also get them in, we found that using a small float, with about one foot of line below, with a treble hook and minnow worked best.

We would wrap the minnow around the treble, sometimes 'more than one, so that the fish saw a ball of minnows. We'd either hook them in the "nose" or just inside the mouth... they are tough critters to hook.

That all said, we got pretty bored catching them as the fight is little to non-existent.

@Moosebunk has posted some incredible Gar fishing reports, perhaps he could shed some light on the topic.

HH

[irishfield]

In years past there was always numerous gars in South Bay. All Glen caught there though was this... 

[Garnet]

I've messed with them . Swim a white grub passed there eye and they will snap at it.

Tons of fun . I was fishing the channel going out Gloucester.

[Snidley]

I've hooked on cranks in the Grand but as others have said they are really hard to land. I found they are frequently jumpers in summer conditions

[dave524]

Most gar I have ever seen was in Stoco Lake at Tweed. On a high speed run you would see pods of them hanging just under the surface all over the lake.

 

[BillM]

Lots of them in GPool.  

[Backlash]

I fished gar quite a bit , we simply used the loop side of Velcro cut into our preferred shape, think of a jig and pig, used a single hook to attach it, weight it depending on your depth needed and their teeth would hook up on the Velcro, sometimes we would use small split shot just above the hook and use them like a top water.

Good Luck

Backlash

[BillM]

Got any pics of that setup?  Sounds interesting.   

[Rizzo]

I have caught one on a weightless rubber worm and 1 on a jitterbug....both times I cast it right on the fishes head practically....was more of a reaction strike I think

[KraTToR]

On 1/24/2019 at 9:29 AM, David Chong said:

On some slow days, I have targeted them! They are very tough to hook on regular lures but are catchable! Many people who target them specifically use a rope lure so that the gar's teeth get caught in the rope. Otherwise, jerkbaits and crankbaits work well. 

And they love perch patterns for some reason...

[bigugli]

Lots of them in GBay and the neighbouring Muskoka lakes. Caught hundreds of them as a kid

[OhioFisherman]

https://1source.basspro.com/index.php/component/k2/237-fishing-info/2415-the-lowdown-on-long-nose-gar

Remember him?

Watch small one eat, it helps explain the problem with hooking them.

 

And for big ones you need hand protection or another way to release them.

[singingdog]

Thanks. I had no idea they were so common. I have an Ontario flyfishing film that has an entire section dedicated to catching big gar on flys. They seemed to be fighting quite hard in that film. 

[OhioFisherman]

Sing, that one is a tank! I have seen them in the back bays of Lake Erie here and in Pa. but never anywhere near that size, saw some real small ones years ago as a kid here 4-6 inches long? nice brightly colored and cool looking.

[Backlash]

BillM

Unfortunately no pictures of the Velcro set up, comes in different sizes and colours, cut it to the shape and size you prefer and cast away.

 

Backlash

[Moosebunk]

Personally had to go to Hell and back to fish gar over the years.  A super fish to chase, plenty of them throughout many of Ontario's waters, I feel lucky and proud to have created a decade of great memories with family, friends and the fish.  Every year I look forward to a dozen or so outings with the gar.  An awesome angling experience!

http://bunksoutdoorangle.com/ottawa-river-gar-rises-sets/

 

[Garfisher]

The Rapala Original Floater in the F11 size is my favourite for them, however as mentioned tons of times already they'll hit just about anything. Even tried one this summer, it was pretty good! That being said they seem to vacuum up gobies, so maybe not a fish to eat a lot of too often.

[Old Ironmaker]

They school here on the north shore of Erie in droves around the middle of May.  I have caught a few in the canals in south west Florida using yarn but never hooked one there or here. The yarn makes a mess and if catch/release don't use yarn. I watched one take my Black and Silver Rappala and held it in it's mouth side ways for a long time. Every time I tried to set the hook it just let go but would take it again. I guess what I'm saying it just leave your presentation right where it is, the Gar will come back and hit it again. 

We have seen them while snorkelling close to shore. None were larger than 24" to 30". Out of water they have a monotone silver color, under water they are the colors of the rainbow, absolutely stunning. Also I have seen them swim close to Smallie beds and never looked at the Bass fry. I would love to catch one here. 

If anyone knows if Georgian Bay has big Gar it would be Mr. Moosebunk.

[Canuck]

I have seen them in the back bays around Port Rawson (Moon river area).

I saw one snorkeling off our cottage on the main Nottawasaga bay (we are on beach with no weeds around for miles).  It was a baby of maybe 8 to 10 inches long including the snout.  

[Headhunter]